VOL. IV.] Notes and News. 197 



fauna, where it blends to some extent with that of Alta Cali- 

 fornia. 



A new illustrated monthly journal, devoted to the nests and 

 eggs of birds, is soon to appear under the editorship of Mr. H. 

 R. Taylor, of Alameda, who is already known to oologists 

 through these columns. 



Mr. Charles A. Keeler has returned from a voyage around 

 Cape Horn to New York, much improved in health from a cruise 

 of over four months. 



Mr. J. W. Blankinship has returned from a .six weeks' col- 

 lecting trip in Northern California, with a large collection of 

 plants, many of them rare in herbaria. Among them may be 

 mentioned DelpJiinium idiginosiim. Astragalus Rattani, Howetlia 

 timosa, Phacetia Rattani, Mimutiis midatus, Eriogonum tripodum 

 Brodicca stdtaris, Broditza rosea, Fritiltaria plurijtora, Damason- 

 iicm Catifornicitm. 



The Herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences, by far 

 the most important west of the Mississippi, is rapidly increasing 

 in size. During the present year it has already been aug- 

 mented by about 20,000 sheets. Besides the continual additions 

 made by its curators in California, it has lately received by the 

 generous kindness of the Gray Herbarium, the private collection 

 of Dr. George Thurber; from Professor C. S. Sargent, of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, a complete and carefully classified set of the trees 

 and shrubs of that fine botanic garden. From Miss Eastwood it 

 has received the plants collected by her during the whole of the 

 last summer in Colorado and Utah; from W. H. Shockley, all the 

 duplicates of his herbarium; from T. S. Brandegee, all the dupli- 

 cates of his collections in California and Baja California; and 

 from corresponding botanists, smaller collections too numerous 

 for mention. These, in addition to the usual purchases, make 

 a very large total for the first half of the current year. The per- 

 manent mounting of the plants on sheets of white paper is in 

 steady progress. The mounting paper of the herbarium is of 

 somewhat different dimensions from the ordinary standard in 

 America, the sheets being 11x17 inches. 



